Sierra Club, CU disagree on health risk from fly ash

Equipment failure Tuesday led to accidental release

9:35 AM,
Oct. 24, 2013

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City Utilities says the cloud of ash that escaped from the John Twitty Energy Center on Tuesday posed no threat to residents or the environment, but the state chapter of the Sierra Club is crying foul.

The ash, a byproduct of burning coal, typically is captured by special equipment at the power plant. That equipment failed Tuesday, allowing a cloud of the powdery stuff to billow from the plant, coating cars, homes and lawns as far as three miles away.

CU reported the malfunction to the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, which is expected to investigate the release. But CU spokesman Joel ...